Yavneh defeated Beren Academy of Houston 43-38 Thursday afternoon in the first preliminary round game of the David A. Yaffee z”l Memorial Tournament to improve the Bulldogs record to 12-10.
Yavneh’s master plan may not have worked to perfection but in the end it got the job done. The Bulldogs 43-38 win over an opponent that it has traditionally whipped was not without tense moments as the team tried desperately to save as much energy as they could for the game against tournament favorite Ramaz to be played just hours later. The starting five got the Bulldogs out to a 4-0 lead before they were replaced 3 minutes into the game by the 5 bench reserves. The move immediately paid dividends as Junior forward Aviv Schor picked up right where he left off in the previous game. He scored 8 first half points to build Yavneh’s lead to as many as 7 points and a 5 point halftime lead. All signs pointed towards Yavneh being able to rest its players for the entire game as it planned. Freshman William Zalstein showed that he truly is the point guard of the future, contributing just 2 points but 3 steals and 3 assists. He looked like a floor general out there, dribbling through and around defenders all evening. Michael San Soucie took a big time charge and had 3 brilliant assists to Avraham Adhamy. With the addition of Bradley Alhadef’s 4 assists, Yavneh passed their way to the halftime lead. Beren came out strong, however, in the second half. Quickly trimming the lead to 21-20 and finally catching the Bulldogs at 27, Beren’s lead was 34-29 at the end of three quarters. Coach Baruch had seen enough. The starters were back and they came out with relentless pursuit of a quick fix. The starters, lead by David Naxon and post Sam Pulitzer, executed a 12-2 run to clinch the game. Sam Pulitzer’s foul line jumper with 4:45 to play put Yavneh up for good at 35-34 and they never looked back. Once it had built a 5 point lead at 41-36 with 3:05 to go, Yavneh went to their famous stalling offense known as Oak Hill. 2:04 came off the clock in one possession, with Josh Abrams finishing an uncontested lay up against a frustrated group of Beren Academy defenders. Aviv Schor led the way with 12 points and David Naxon chipped in with 10. Ori Melnik led all scorers with 14 points for Beren.
Yavneh is now 6-1 all time against Houston’s Beren/Hebrew Academy. Yavneh will head across town to an alternate location to play loaded Ramaz from New York City later in the evening.